Automatic vehicle-brake.



J. T. STEPHENS.

AUTOMATIC VEHICLE BRAKE.

APPLICATION FILED mum, 1914.

Patented Apr. 27, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET I- k IW a d7. 5 TE PHENS Q? Q E mw NM UHIIHM THE NORRISPETERS CQ. PHOTD-LITHO.. WASHINGTON. D. C

J. T. STEPHENS. AUTOMATIC VEHICLE BRAKE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.8, 1914.

Patented Apr. 27, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- lwuwtoz THE NORRIS PETERS C11. FHOTGLITHOU WASHINGTON.D4 6 srn'rns Para "r ortion.

JOHN T. STEPHENS, OF KNOXVILLE, IOWA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO WILLARDH. LYON, OF KNOXVILLE, IOWA.

AUTOMATIC VEHICLE-BRAKE.

Specification of Letters Patent,

Patented Apr. 27, 1915.

Application filed. August 8, 1914. Serial No. 855,850.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN T. STEPHENS, a citizen of theUnited States,residing at Knoxville, in the county of Marion and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticVehicle-Brakes,'of which the followings a specification, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in brakes, andparticularly to vehicle brakes which are automatic in operation;

An object 'of this invention is the provision of an automatic brakewhich com prises a brake beam swingingly mounted upon the running gearof a vehicle, the running gear including a tongue slidably connected tothe front hounds, means being provided for operatively connecting thebrake beam with the tongue so that upon back-draft of the animalsconnected to the tongue, the brake beam will be moved to engage thebrake shoes against the wheels.

A further object of this invention is the provision of an automaticbrake which comprises a swingingly brake beam operatively connected to asliding tongue, whereby upon back-draft of the tongue the brake beamwill be moved rearwardly to apply the shoes against the rear wheels,means being, provided to move the brake beam out of operative position,so that back-draft may be applied on the tongue without engaging thebrake shoes against the wheels.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of anautomatic brake which comprises a swingingly brake beam operativelyconnected to the sliding tongue, the brake beam being also operativelyconnected to a manual movable lever, whereby the brake shoes may beforced against the rear wheels while forward-draft is being applied tothe tongue.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the novelconstruction, combination, and arrangement of parts, to be hereinaftermore fully described, claimed, and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevational view of my devicepartly in section; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation partly insection showing the manner of supporting the brake beam; Fig. 3 is a topplan view showing the tongue slidably mounted in the plate which i issupported in thefront hounds; Fig. 4: is a sectional view on the line4;-4; of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a elevational view of the crank shaft"connected to the manually operating lever; and Fig. 6 is a fragmentarytop plan view of thebrake beam showing the manner of connecting the sameto the operating bar below the reach.

Referring more particularly to the drawings,the numeral 1 designates thebody of a wagon or similar vehicle, to the under face of which the reach2 is connected, and con} nected to the reach are the stationary rearhounds 3 andthe pivoted front hounds 4.

The vehicle is provided with the usual rear wheels 5, and the forwardsteering wheels 6, and pivotally mounted between the forward ends of thefront hounds 1 is a plate 7 which is provided with a centrallongitudinally extending downwardly offset portion 8 to provide a seatfor the slidabletongue 9. The offset portion 8 is provided with'alongitudinal slot 10 therein, and secured at its forward end to thetongue forwardly of the plate 8 isa rod 11, the rear end of which isspaced below the plate and is provided with an upstanding end 12 whichprojects through the slot 'lO'and is secured in the rear end to thetongue, whereby the sliding movement of the tongue is limited. Pivotallyconnected at one end to the reach rearwardly of the front hounds is aconnecting link 13, and pivotally connected to the free end of the linkis a rod 14: which is connected at its forward end to the upstanding end12 of the rod 11.

Disposed below the reach 2 is a brake beam 15 upon which the shoes 16are mounted forengagement against the periphery of the rear wheels 5.Extending forwardly of the brake beam intermediate of its ends is thecurved ortion of a U-shaped connecting member 1 upon which are mountedthe apertured ends of a pair of links 18, the other ends of the linksbeing pivotally connected to the side faces of the longitudinallyextending connecting rod 19 adjacent its rear end, the forward end ofwhich is pivotally connected to the link 13 intermediate of its ends.The rear end of the rod 19 is hook-shaped as at 20, the hook beingadapted to engage the intermediate portion of the member 17 between thelinks 18.

Rotatably mounted in bearings secured to the bottom of the body of thewagon is a crank shaft 21 one end of the crank shaft to, thedown'turned'end ofthe crank shaft is a rod 25, the "rod. extending.through a slot.

extending upwardly along .one side of the body, and being connected atits free end to a connecting rod 22 which is connected at its forwardend to an operatinglever 23, the lever being adapted for engagement With"a rack 24.'.-lhe other crank shaft 21 extends downwardly above thereach 2, and connected at its'upper end 26 in the reachiand beingengaged at-its H lower; end around the rod 19, whereby uponforwardfmovement of the lever 23, the rod 19 will be raised to swing'thebrake beam upwardly and forwardly out of. operative,

position, 7 V; a a

The brake beam is supported at 1ts opposite, ends in operative position,by. links 27 which are connected to the ends of atrans-'verselyextendin'glbar 28 secured'interm'ediate of its ends to the-reachrearwardly of v the slot 26 therein. Rotatably supportedin bearingssecured to the rear hounds 3 is a crankshaft .29, the crank 30 oftheshafthaving-the rear end of a connecting rod 31 pivotally'jconnectedthereto; the forward 2 end of the connecting rod 31 3:

v 7 connected, a cable3 l being adapted being secured to, theIbrake beam15. The crank shaft 29 is provided at one end with an upstandingextension 32 to which a handle,33 maybe for connection at its rear endto the handle 33, the

operated manually reach vof the driver of the wagon, so that upon a pullon-the,cable,the brake may be by reason'of the connection of thecrankshaft with the brake beam through the medium of the connectlingrod31; o i j r g V 1 In the practical use of my improved de- 1 vice, thedraft animals are connected to the tongue in the usual manner, and whena forward pull is exerted upon the tongue, the brake beam 15 is heldforwardly of the Wheels so that the brake'shoes 16 are spaced from theperipheries of the wheels, whereby the brake is maintained inoperative.When backward pressure is applied upon. the

tongue, the brake beam is moved rearwardly by reason of its connectionwith the tongue, to force the brakeshoes against the wheels and thusautomatically reduce the speed of the wagon. To hold the brake beam outof its operative position when it is desired to back the wagon, thelever 23 is moved forwardly, whereby the rod 19 is raised, to

so ber' 17,

movethe hooked end 20 of the rod 19 out end of the cableextending'forwardly to a point withinwhich may be either automaticallyor manually operated, and which may be readily thrown out of operativeposition when it is desired-to back the wagon, so that rearward movementof the tongue will not force the brake shoes against the wheels.

. A brake constructed in accordance with my invention comprises aminimum number of parts, whereby the same may be cheaply manufactured,the brake being of such construction, that the samemay be readilyapplied to wagons at present inuse, form a part of newly constructed.vehicles.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I desire to claim andsecure by Letters Patent is 1. In combination with the running gear of avehicle/including a reach, hounds, a tongue mounted, between the fronthounds, and a rod connected with the tongue and provided with anupstanding end, sald up-i standing end being secured to the rear end ofthe tongue and movable therewith to limit the sliding movement of thetongue, of a brake beam disposed beneath the reach, and swinginglysupported thereby, a depending link pivotally connected at itsupper endto the reach, forward of the brake beam, a rod connectedat its forwardend to the upstanding portion of the rod on the tongue and pivotallyconnected at, its rear end to the lower end of said link, means forming.connectionbetween the link and the brake beam to actuate the brake beamupon the rearward movement of the tongue, and manually operated meansadapted to actuate said connecting means-and disengage the samefrom thebrake, beamwhereby to move the brake beam forwardly of the reach. a

2. In combination with the running gear of a vehicle, including a reach,hounds, and a tongue slidably connected to the front hounds, of a brakebeam disposed below the reach and swingingly supported thereby, adepending link pivotally connected at its upper end to the reachforwardly of the brake beam, a 'rod connected at its forward end to thetongue and pivotally connected at its rear end to the lower end of saidlink, a U-shaped member carried by the beam and extending forwardlytherefrom, links pivotally connected to the U-shaped-memher, a barpivotally connected at its forward end to the link intermediate of itsends, said bar'being pivotally connected adjacent its and may rear endbetween said links, the rear end of In testimony whereof I hereuntoaifix my said bar being};1 for??? with 3, hookbfor end signature inthepresence of two witnesses. gagement wit sai -s ape mem er an means forraising said bar to disengage the JOHN STEPHENS hook from the U-shapedmember, whereby Witnesses:

to move the brake beam forwardly of the CLINNA WELBHER,

reach. W. H. LYON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner; of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

